Health and Community Care Committee, 06 Oct 1999

Meeting date: Wednesday, October 6, 1999

Official Report 172KB pdf

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National Health Service (Optical Charges and Payments) (Scotland) Amendment (No 2) Regulations 1999 (SSI 1999/64)

Again, no motion has been lodged. Is the committee happy to agree that the attention of Parliament should not be drawn to this instrument?

Members indicated agreement.

I thank members of the committee once again for their forbearance and patience when dealing with the instruments. I am sure that all of us agree that, although they may be quite important in themselves, we are being put in an incredibly frustrating position by having to consider them without being able to do much about them. I am sure that we look forward to moving on to a more substantive discussion.

I would like to make a specific proposal, which probably will have to be put to the Procedures Committee.

Committees consider statutory instruments before the deadline for lodging motions has passed. The Scottish Parliament is trying to deal with statutory instruments better than Westminster does. In principle, it is good that they are presented to a committee—even if the committee just nods them through—but it is pointless if that committee cannot then lodge a motion.

The simple way to deal with this is to omit "40 days" from paragraphs 3 and 4 of rule 10.4, so that if, having considered an instrument, the committee decides to lodge a motion, it can do so within 40 days. The rest will follow.

If the committee agrees, I will write in that vein to the convener of the Procedures Committee.

Members indicated agreement.